Gourmet Strawberrieshttp://blog.thestrawberrystore.com
Heirloom Strawberry Seeds and PlantsWed, 08 Apr 2015 02:42:23 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.6.187543287GMO-Free, Open Pollinated, Non Hybrid and Heirloomhttp://blog.thestrawberrystore.com/gmo-free-open-pollinated-non-hybrid-and-heirloom
Wed, 08 Apr 2015 02:42:23 +0000http://blog.thestrawberrystore.com/?p=317The title of this post uses key words that are in the news. If you’re a gardener you are aware of these words. It’s worth repeating that wild strawberries (aka alpine strawberries, Fragaria vesca and other names) are GMO-Free, Open Pollinated, non Hybrids and heirlooms.

I wonder sometimes what it was like when the only strawberries available were the wild ones. By this time of the year I’m craving strawberries. I walk past the large tastless ones in the produce market and grocery store. In the past I gave in to temptation and bought some. Every time I’m disappointed. You see, I was diagnosed several years ago with type 2 diabetes. I can’t put tablespoons of sugar on my strawberries. That’s what you have to do with the hybrid types. Yes, they are better from the garden because they’re allowed to ripen. And, we do grow some hybrids in our garden, primarily Mara des Bois.

]]>317New Look, New Storehttp://blog.thestrawberrystore.com/new-look-new-store
Sat, 21 Mar 2015 02:11:38 +0000http://blog.thestrawberrystore.com/?p=311If you’ve been here before you can see we’ve had a facelift and added a store. Our new look is mobile friendly. The store is a welcome addition. It will make it much easier for visitors to browse our products without having to go to another site. We hope it makes it convenient for you and that you appreciate the new look.
]]>311Future Couponshttp://blog.thestrawberrystore.com/future-coupons
Mon, 08 Dec 2014 02:55:26 +0000http://blog.thestrawberrystore.com/?p=300We will begin offering coupons for our plant and seed sites. They will be offered exclusively via our newsletters. Make sure and subscribe to our newsletter so you won’t miss out on coupons.

]]>300New Product: Wholesale Alpine Strawberry Plugshttp://blog.thestrawberrystore.com/wholesale-alpine-strawberry-plugs
Mon, 08 Dec 2014 02:43:02 +0000http://blog.thestrawberrystore.com/?p=296We are now affiliated with a plug grower. We have contracted with this grower to grow and ship 51 cell plugs. The minimum order is 6 trays for per delivery. Minimum of 3 trays per variety. You can find this product at Wholesale Alpine Strawberry Plugs. This is a custom product – we sow the tray when the order is received. It takes 9 to 10 weeks from sowing to finish so order early.
]]>296Future Posts – Visit Our New Sitehttp://blog.thestrawberrystore.com/future-posts-visit-new-site
Fri, 03 Oct 2014 01:46:24 +0000http://blog.thestrawberrystore.com/?p=292We have been trying to keep content current on two blogs. One blog is enough work, two, impossible. Recently, we created a new site at www.superfruitseeds.com. It is both a blog and ecommerce store thanks to the versatility of WordPress. I won’t go into the rationale for this new site here but suffice it to say that we will not be updating this blog. We will keep it up but ask that you visit the Super Fruit Seeds site for the most up to date blogs related to gourmet strawberries and nutraceutical berries.
]]>292Late Summer/Fall Plantinghttp://blog.thestrawberrystore.com/late-summerfall-planting
Tue, 09 Sep 2014 16:48:00 +0000http://blog.thestrawberrystore.com/?p=289This time of year we get a lot of questions about planting in August and into the fall. Here is a response that I sent to a customer who had purchased plugs in July. She transplanted into pots and was asking about when she should transplant to her garden and how to take care of the plants from now until spring.

The only thing I left out was a short discussion about making sure that the soil doesn’t dry out during the winter. It might sound crazy to suggest irrigation in the winter but here in zone 7 we have had relatively warm winters where the soil became dust dry.

Here is the response I sent:

“I recommend transplanting to the garden bed as soon as you can. It’s best to take off flower stalks this time of year when transplanting. It helps direct the plant’s efforts to putting down a root system rather than fruiting. Limit nitrogen as much as possible this time of year. Too much nitrogen encourages vegetative growth (leaves). What you want to encourage is root growth so the plants establish before harsh weather.

I do not recommend trimming the plants until spring. It can shock them. Strawberries will continue to grow even when it’s fairly cold. If foliage is removed it limits this growth.

You do want to mulch the plants after a couple of hard frosts. I recommend the use of straw as a mulch. 2 to 3″ of straw will help moderate temperature swings during the winter and reduce freeze/thaw cycles. Freeze/thaw is one of the strawberry killers. It exposes roots and pushes plants out of the soil. Uncover in spring when daily temperatures are consistently above freezing. They can be uncovered before the last frost date without damage but they need to be watched if hard frosts come after mulch removal.

When the mulch is removed in the spring is the best time to fertilize for the first time. If using a granular fertilizer it should be lightly worked into the upper surface of the soil. Liquid fertilizers get to the roots faster. Avoid high nitrogen rates. This time you want to encourage flowering instead of vegetative growth but you do need leaf growth to increase the plant size. The larger the plant the more production potential.”

]]>289Newsletters – Old and Newhttp://blog.thestrawberrystore.com/newsletters-old-new
Sat, 09 Aug 2014 21:34:38 +0000http://blog.thestrawberrystore.com/?p=285The name of our newsletter is Gourmet Berry News. Yesterday we purchased that domain (www.gourmetberrynews.com). This site will handle new subscriptions, unsubscriptions an will archive current and future newsletters. Visit to catchup on our news and to subscribe.
]]>285Why Do They Say Strawberries Live for 3 Years?http://blog.thestrawberrystore.com/say-strawberries-live-3-years
Wed, 16 Apr 2014 15:38:36 +0000http://blog.thestrawberrystore.com/?p=282I received a question from someone who is growing strawberries for the first time. He has heard that strawberries live for three years and wanted to know if it was because of weeds, nutrients, or what. Here’s my reply:

Strawberry plants can live many years. All of the things you mention can be discouraging. In my experience weeds tend to take over before other factors become important. With good mulching and planning weeds can become less of a factor.

The three year thing is about the need to renovate the plants after a period of time. Organic matter breaks down and is depleted over a couple of years.

The soil structure is no longer able to hold moisture. The mass of roots of older plants quickly takes of water and the soil can’t hold enough water to provide the moist soil that strawberries need. Nutrients get depleted and are hard or impossible to incorporate. Most nutrient application is done as top dressing which is a very inefficient way of getting nutrients to the roots.

With alpines, I have found an additional reason to renovate after a period of time. Unpicked fruit results in volunteers. Self pollinated fruit (pollen from the same plant) and cross pollination of different varieties can result in what appears to be new types of plants coming up and producing fruit.

This is particularly apparent in plantings of white/yellow fruiting varieties. White/yellow fruit is recessive. A lot of crosses will result in the new generation producing red fruit. Non runnering types (clumping alpines for example) can produce volunteers that produce runners. As you can see this can get messy over time without some supervision and prethought.

]]>282Growing Magazine Article Includes fraises des boishttp://blog.thestrawberrystore.com/growing-magazine-article-includes-fraises-des-bois
Thu, 30 Jan 2014 17:46:35 +0000http://blog.thestrawberrystore.com/?p=279Published January 2014
]]>279Saving Strawberry Seedshttp://blog.thestrawberrystore.com/saving-strawberry-seeds
http://blog.thestrawberrystore.com/saving-strawberry-seeds#respondThu, 16 Jan 2014 02:14:20 +0000http://blog.thestrawberrystore.com/?p=276I get frequent questions about seed saving and about whether different strawberry varieties will cross. The short answer on crossing is that varieties in the same species will cross. It is not common to have crosses between different species. Hybrid garden strawberries, Fragaria x ananassa, for example will not cross with alpine strawberries, F. vesca. Hybrids have 8 sets of chromosomes (octoploid) while alpines have 2 sets (diploid).

Before leaving the question of crossing, let’s address the question of whether a gardener needs to isolate different varieties. If you are not saving seed there is no need to separate varieties of a species. Yes, they will cross but it will not affect the flavor or taste but it will affect the genetics.

All of this is important to know if you plant to save seeds. If you are growing one selection of alpine strawberries such as ‘Alexandria’ you don’t have to worry about it crossing with hybrids in your garden so you can save the seeds for the future. One thing to be aware of though, is whether there are other plants in the vicinity that will cross with an alpine. There may well be wild diploid strawberries in the area such as in the wild or those being grown by neighbors. If there are insect pollinators in the area they can cross the plants. The wind can carry pollen from distances that could cross with your single alpine variety.

If you’re getting the idea that isolation by distance may not be enough then you are catching on. Several strawberry experts have told me that plants that could cross with each other should be at least a half mile apart but to be on the safe side it should be a mile. If there are single plants or isolated patches of plants that can cross with your plants, a half mile should be sufficient. If there are large plantings within a half mile then a mile would be better. It’s all about the probability of crossing.

Are there alternatives to isolation by distance? Fortunately, yes! Isolation can be accomplished with barriers. There are many types of barriers. One might be a large planting of trees such as a forest. Mountains can isolate plantings. Even your house can provide a barrier. These barriers need to keep the wind from cross pollinating similar plants and keep bees from carrying pollen to similar plants. As you can imagine some barriers will be effective while others will not eliminate all risk of crossing.

The best form of isolation is a cage or container. We use pollination cages for our seed production. These consist of insect barrier quality netting and placement of the cages so that the wind cannot carry pollen from one cage to another. Where there might be risk of crossing we select different species for adjacent cages. We have frames that can be covered with plastic to isolate similar plants. Thought has to go into the plan for seed saving on this type of scale.

Keep in mind that plants in a cage still need to pollinate. If wind and air movement are reduced or eliminated than wind pollination will not be effective in pollinating your plants. If the plants are covered with a cage before they bloom there may be few or no insects in the cage to pollinate the flowers. We use mason bees to pollinate in our cages. One option is to hand pollinate but one must be careful when entering the cage to not let insects in. It’s a bit tricky but the main point is that there must be a well thought out plan.

]]>http://blog.thestrawberrystore.com/saving-strawberry-seeds/feed0276Time to Think about Your Seed Needshttp://blog.thestrawberrystore.com/time-to-think-about-your-seed-needs
http://blog.thestrawberrystore.com/time-to-think-about-your-seed-needs#respondTue, 19 Nov 2013 02:59:01 +0000http://blog.thestrawberrystore.com/?p=273Within the last couple of days there has been a spike in emails and phone calls about seeds. The most asked question to date is whether our seeds are GMO. The answer, we signed the safe seed pledge which means that we do NOT sell GMO seeds. All of our seeds are open pollinated and are not hybrids.

We do sell some heirloom plants that are hybrids but none are GMO. They are propagated vegetatively which means by rooting their runners, so they are not open pollinated.

A couple of notes about seed availability and price. So far we are holding our prices or offering better prices and more discounts than in the past. We don’t know how long we’ll be able to do this. Some of the seed is now grown here in Delaware but a still significant amount is imported. The U.S. dollar is weaker than it was a year ago but we are pretty well stocked up right now. We likely will have some shortages as the season goes on, especially for seed we produce.

One other factor affecting availability is a significant increase in demand for seed from outside the U.S. Several species and many of the selections we offer are not available at all or to any great extent off shore. This is especially true for Fragaria virginiana and many of our F. vesca selections.

We are still making the transition from plant production to seed production. If demand for seed continues to increase we will likely significantly reduce our plant production and sales. Many of our customers are either garden centers or growers who grow for garden centers. With shipping costs being what they are it’s probably for the best if we ease back on plant production. It will be much more economical for gardeners to buy plants locally than to have us ship them across the country. It comes down to shear economics.

One last point. Most strawberry seed takes about 14 weeks from sowing to first fruit if grown in a range of 65 to 75 degrees F. This knowledge will help you to plan your sowing and also your seed purchases. Seed can be stored in a freezer prior to sowing and actually should be frozen for at least a month before sowing. All strawberry seed that we ship is already preconditioned and ready to sow. If you get the seed early or if you are a distant international customer who has to wait up to a couple of weeks to receive your order, freeze the seed until you are ready to sow to help optimize germination.

]]>http://blog.thestrawberrystore.com/time-to-think-about-your-seed-needs/feed0273A Well Written Bloghttp://blog.thestrawberrystore.com/a-well-written-blog
http://blog.thestrawberrystore.com/a-well-written-blog#respondFri, 11 Oct 2013 22:41:51 +0000http://blog.thestrawberrystore.com/?p=268I just became aware of an interesting site that gives a very nice and accurate description of alpine strawberries. Nice pictures too! check it out at

]]>http://blog.thestrawberrystore.com/october-2013-gourmet-berry-news/feed0260Thoughts on Attracting Beneficialshttp://blog.thestrawberrystore.com/thoughts-on-attracting-beneficials
http://blog.thestrawberrystore.com/thoughts-on-attracting-beneficials#respondSun, 29 Sep 2013 00:05:47 +0000http://blog.thestrawberrystore.com/?p=246The growing season is winding down and most of the planting has been done for spring. This includes more plants for “hover island”. A part of this process is doing the research to first figure out what we are trying to achieve and secondly choosing, ordering and planting the plants for this plan.

At lot of time is spent with online searches. One of the things I was struck with is the strategy that is used by seed companies who offer seed mixtures for beneficial gardens. For a time I actually considered offering a seed mixture customized for strawberry production. The strategy seems to be to throw in seeds for all plants known to attract beneficials including bees, predators and parasites. One interesting thing about the mixtures that I looked at was that many included what I would consider weeds. Several times I thought to myself, I wouldn’t want my neighbor planting this mixture. Next thing would be their weed seeds infesting my lawn and garden.

This realization helped me to adjust my planning. Because strawberries are an early season crop I started my search for plants that attract beneficials AND bloom early to it can benefit strawberry production and early season pest control. There are a few shrubs and trees that bloom early but I’m looking for short term annual and perennials.

Before actually making choices from the short list of early spring flowering plants I wanted to make sure that attractiveness to mason bees is considered. It turns out that having plants bloom all spring and summer is not necessary for mason bees. The adults basically live about six weeks. A spring strawberry crop here in zone 7 blooms in mid to late April. So, now we’ve bracketed the time frame. We were looking for plants attractive to mason bees and other beneficials during April into May.

Need Pollinators in Your Garden or Orchard?

What we came up with are golden alexanders (Zizia aurea), bulbs like anenome and scilla and dandelions. We have been growing dandelions for edible greens so they will serve double duty.

One more thought for today …. orchardists who are using mason bees to pollinate crops like almonds have noted something very interesting. They recommend mowing the dandelions while the almonds are blooming because the bees need to be pollinating the almonds, not foraging on dandelions – weeds. I plan to keep a notebook with me to jot down observations on:

date of flowering for each plant

insects on the plant and flowers

do the bees prefer another plant over the strawberry

]]>http://blog.thestrawberrystore.com/thoughts-on-attracting-beneficials/feed0246Hover Islandhttp://blog.thestrawberrystore.com/hover-island
http://blog.thestrawberrystore.com/hover-island#respondSun, 16 Jun 2013 02:29:53 +0000http://blog.thestrawberrystore.com/?p=237Strange title? We are venturing into a new area on this blog. This is all about beneficial insects, companion planting, garden insectaries, and many other terms. This post will introduce the subject.

We have been trying to figure out the best way to approach this large and new area. We considered setting up a separate website and even a separate blog. For now, I think the best place to start is here.

The reason for “Hover Island”? One term used when someone creates a habitat for beneficials is to call the area an island. Hover comes from Hoverflies. Our whole intention is to create a habitat that will increase hoverflies in our nursery area. For a long time we have search for information on this very important group of insect species. Hoverflies are also called syrphid flies.

Why syrphid flies? First, the adults are active when temperatures are around 55 degrees. Here in Delaware these temperatures are typical of April when strawberries are blooming. The adults are effective pollinators. We have started using and releasing mason bees in the nursery and are using them in pollination cages. We have found them to be very effective. But, you can never have too many pollinators, especially pollinators that are present and more importantly active very early in the spring.

Syrphids or hoverflies have a second HUGE benefit. The larval stages are voracious predators of aphids and other soft bodied pests. The adults tend to deposit eggs where aphids are present.

It is especially important to keep aphids in check in a strawberry nursery. Aphids can transmit viruses so their control is essential to the long term health of the species and selections we grow and sell.

Our intention is to create what we are calling “Hover Island”. We have already selected and purchased seeds and plants that will be grown for this area. We will get into the specifics soon.

We also want to point out that other beneficials will be welcome in Hover Island and in our nursery. The plants we have selected will attract a wide variety of beneficials including hoverflies. The plants selected are being selected to offer habit to hoverflies all season, not just early spring. We get some fruit production in the fall so having beneficials that will pollinate and protect the fall crop is welcome indeed.

And, last but not least, we are selecting plant species that are attractive to mason bees as well. We had success with using polliantion cages to isolate and pollinate several crops for seed production. The mason bees reproduced. We hope that even with expansion of our pollination cages the mason bees can reproduce enough to sustain themselves so we don’t have to continually buy mason bees. Mason bees is another subject for another post.

Look for more posts in the near future for the category Hover Island and other categories. We will take some pictures to share about this very important undertaking.

]]>http://blog.thestrawberrystore.com/hover-island/feed0237Fragaria moschata ‘Royal Bauwens’http://blog.thestrawberrystore.com/fragaria-moschata-royal-bauwens
http://blog.thestrawberrystore.com/fragaria-moschata-royal-bauwens#respondSun, 16 Jun 2013 01:59:45 +0000http://blog.thestrawberrystore.com/?p=233Fragaria moschata ‘Royal Bauwens’ is a cross of ‘Royal Capron’ and ‘Bauwens’ that we grew from seed. The fruit has a slightly different taste than varieties that we’ve grown up until now. The young plants produced fruit the spring after sowing them. An image of a few berries is here:

When harvested fully ripe the calyx stays behind. The berry on the right separated from the calyx and left behind a little of the top of the fruit.

]]>http://blog.thestrawberrystore.com/fragaria-moschata-royal-bauwens/feed0233Fragaria vesca ‘Deesse des Vallees’http://blog.thestrawberrystore.com/fragaria-vesca-deesse-des-vallees
http://blog.thestrawberrystore.com/fragaria-vesca-deesse-des-vallees#respondSun, 16 Jun 2013 01:52:10 +0000http://blog.thestrawberrystore.com/?p=229I don’t remember posting an image of Fragaria vesca ‘Deesse des Vallees’. Here’s one taken recently from our seed production area. Such a shame to not be able to taste the fruit. It is very aromatic.

]]>http://blog.thestrawberrystore.com/fragaria-vesca-deesse-des-vallees/feed0229Fragaria vesca ‘Hawaii 4’http://blog.thestrawberrystore.com/fragaria-vesca-hawaii-4
http://blog.thestrawberrystore.com/fragaria-vesca-hawaii-4#respondSun, 16 Jun 2013 01:45:59 +0000http://blog.thestrawberrystore.com/?p=225We searched for years for this selection and I must say that the wait has been worth it. This is the selection that was used by researchers who sequenced the genome of the wild strawberry – in other words they identified the genetics of the wild strawberry.

One aspect of this selection that we were and are excited about is that it is day neutral and it produces runners. All runnering selections we have up to now are June bearing. We expected red fruit but this selection produces a very tasty white/yellow fruit that are every bit as large as the larges alpines we have grown. The plants produce a lot of runners and at least some of the runners produce flowers while they are still pretty small. We think that this is a winner and plan to have some bare root plants available for fall 2013. Here’s an image that we’ll share.

Larger than expected white/yellow fruit of Hawaii 4
]]>http://blog.thestrawberrystore.com/fragaria-vesca-hawaii-4/feed0225Fragaria x bifera – A New Species for Ushttp://blog.thestrawberrystore.com/fragaria-x-bifera-a-new-species-for-us
http://blog.thestrawberrystore.com/fragaria-x-bifera-a-new-species-for-us#respondSun, 16 Jun 2013 01:33:29 +0000http://blog.thestrawberrystore.com/?p=221Fragaria x bifera is a hybrid of F. vesca and F. viridis. We have been excited to try this species for quite some time. Very little information is available anywhere about the fruit of this species. Slightly more information is available about the plants. We now know a LOT more about this species after only a few months of growing it. Here’s what we’ve learned:

The plants are vigorous growers. They aggressivly produce runners as well.

The plants appear to be day neutral as expected. I say appear to be because time will tell during short days of fall to see how that affects reblooming. As of this date, June 15th, the plants are fruiting and blooming at the same time.

The fruit is white/yellow. I was very surprises about this. The fruit seems to be larger than F. vesca fruit. One fruit weighed in at 2.3 grams. That’s large for a wild type.

Here’s a couple of pictures.

bifera fruit is larger than expectedLarger than expected white/yellow fruit.

We are rooting runners and expect to have bare root plants for sale in the fall 2013. Check the shopping cart to price and availability.

]]>http://blog.thestrawberrystore.com/fragaria-x-bifera-a-new-species-for-us/feed0221Strawberry Breedinghttp://blog.thestrawberrystore.com/strawberry-breeding
http://blog.thestrawberrystore.com/strawberry-breeding#respondSun, 02 Jun 2013 21:13:16 +0000http://blog.thestrawberrystore.com/?p=218I’ve been getting a fair number of emails from customers stating that they are glad that I signed the safe seed pledge. Here is one of the responses I sent to a customer today:

“Fortunately, til now those who want to tinker with genetics have left the alpines alone. I fear that won’t last long. The renewed interest in these wild types has caught the attention of the breeders who cannot accept plants for what they are. They think they need to “improve” even what is the best the God ever made. Their idea of improvement is to make them larger and harder so they can be shipped long distances. Haven’t they ever heard of “grow local”? No need to ship those grown locally.”